What Is Your Employer's E-Verify Number and Where to Find It

Your STEM OPT extension asks for your employer's E-Verify Company ID number — here's what it is, why it matters, and exactly how to track it down.

You're filling out your STEM OPT extension request and you hit a field asking for your employer's E-Verify Company Identification Number, and you have no idea what that is or where to get it. Your Form I-983 training plan is mostly done, your employer has signed off on the job, and now one unfamiliar number is standing between you and hitting submit.

Here's the direct answer: your employer's E-Verify number, usually called the Company ID Number, is issued by DHS when a company enrolls in E-Verify, the electronic system that checks new hires' work authorization. It is not public information, so you can't look it up the way you'd search an LCA filing or a company's H-1B history. You have to get it from your employer, specifically from whoever manages I-9 compliance or visa sponsorship, because it lives inside their E-Verify account and nowhere else.

What the E-Verify number actually is

When a business enrolls in E-Verify, DHS creates an account for that company and assigns it a Company Identification Number. That number identifies the employer's E-Verify account the same way an account number identifies a bank account — it has nothing to do with your individual case, your job title, or your Form I-983 training plan. It's tied permanently to the company (or, in some cases, to a specific hiring site within the company), not to you.

It's easy to confuse with other identifiers your employer has, so it helps to know what it isn't:

• It is not the employer's Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), which the IRS assigns for tax purposes.
• It is not the SEVIS school code, which belongs to your university, not your employer.
• It is not a DUNS or Unique Entity ID (UEI), which are federal contracting identifiers some employers also carry.
• It is not printed on your offer letter, your paystub, or your I-9 form as a matter of course.

The only reliable sources are the company's E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding (the agreement signed at enrollment) and the company's own E-Verify account profile. Both live behind a login only the employer controls.

Why your STEM OPT filing needs it

USCIS requires the field because of a rule built into the STEM OPT extension itself: to sponsor a student for the 24-month STEM OPT extension, an employer has to already be enrolled in E-Verify. It doesn't matter whether the employer is a multinational company or a five-person startup — the enrollment requirement applies the same way. You can read the full mechanics of that requirement in our guide to the STEM OPT E-Verify employer requirement.

This is where the confusion usually starts: your Form I-983 training plan doesn't ask for an E-Verify number anywhere on the form itself. The number shows up separately, on your STEM OPT extension request, because that's where USCIS is confirming your employer's eligibility to participate — not evaluating your training plan. If you've been scanning your I-983 for a field to fill in and can't find one, that's expected. The E-Verify number belongs to the extension filing, not the training plan.

One more thing worth knowing early: this requirement is specific to the 24-month STEM extension. Standard post-completion OPT, including the initial 12-month period most F-1 students use first, does not require an E-Verify-enrolled employer at all. If you're still on regular OPT, this field simply won't come up yet.

Where to actually find the number

There's no shortcut around asking your employer, but there is a right order to ask in.

1. Start with whoever handles your onboarding paperwork. Whoever ran your I-9 verification, usually HR or a payroll coordinator, has almost certainly used the company's E-Verify account before and can pull the Company ID Number from the account profile in a few minutes.
2. If HR doesn't manage it directly, ask your immigration or visa sponsorship contact. Larger companies often route E-Verify administration through a compliance team, in-house counsel, or an outside immigration law firm rather than general HR. That team will have the number on file from every prior E-Verify case they've run.
3. Confirm whether your employer enrolls directly or uses a designated agent. Some employers, especially smaller ones or those using a PEO or staffing firm, hand E-Verify case-running to a third party called an E-Verify employer agent rather than enrolling on their own. If that's the case, you need the Client Company ID Number tied to your specific employer, not the agent's own Company ID.
4. Use E-Verify's public participation search only to confirm enrollment status, not to retrieve the number. DHS publishes a searchable list of companies that participate in E-Verify. Our walkthrough on how to look up any employer's E-Verify enrollment covers how to use it. This confirms your employer is enrolled at all, which is useful information on its own, but it won't hand you the account-specific Company ID Number.
5. If you're going through an OPT placement company or staffing firm rather than a direct employer, verify their enrollment separately before you rely on any number they give you. See our guide on checking whether an OPT placement company is E-Verify enrolled for how to confirm this independently rather than taking a sales pitch at face value.

Company ID Number vs Client Company ID Number

Which number you need depends entirely on how your employer participates in E-Verify. The two are not interchangeable, and using the wrong one on your filing creates a mismatch you'll have to fix.

If you're not sure which situation applies, ask HR directly whether the company enrolled in E-Verify itself or works through an agent. It's a normal question for an HR or compliance contact to answer quickly, since they'd already know from running your I-9 case.

If your employer can't produce a number

Sometimes the answer you get back isn't a number — it's confusion, silence, or "let me check and get back to you" that never resolves. Take that seriously rather than assuming it's a paperwork delay.

The most common reason an employer can't produce an E-Verify number is that they aren't actually enrolled. That's a real barrier for your STEM OPT extension, not a formality, because USCIS requires enrollment as a condition of employer eligibility for the extension category. If your employer is willing to sponsor you but simply hasn't gotten around to enrolling, walk them through how to get your employer to enroll in E-Verify — enrollment itself is not typically complicated for a legitimate business, but it does take the employer's own action, not yours.

If this is happening with a job you found through an OPT placement company or staffing arrangement rather than a direct employer relationship, treat the missing number as a flag worth investigating further, not just a documentation gap. Confirm the arrangement is a real employment relationship before you build your STEM OPT timeline around it.

Because your STEM OPT filing window is tied to your current OPT authorization's expiration, don't sit on an unresolved E-Verify question. Loop in your DSO as soon as you notice the gap — they can tell you how the missing piece affects your filing timeline. For questions about your specific eligibility or how to handle a denial risk, that's a conversation for a licensed immigration attorney, not a guess based on a forum post.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the number is publicly searchable. Unlike LCA filings or H-1B sponsor histories, E-Verify Company ID Numbers are account-specific and not published anywhere you can search independently.
• Using a staffing firm's or PEO's own Company ID instead of your actual employer's Client Company ID. These are different numbers tied to different accounts, and mixing them up creates a mismatch on your filing.
• Confusing the E-Verify number with an EIN, SEVIS code, or DUNS/UEI number. All of these are legitimate identifiers your employer has, but none of them is the one USCIS wants for your STEM OPT extension.
• Waiting until close to your filing deadline to ask HR for the number. If your employer turns out not to be enrolled, enrollment itself takes time that eats into an already tight window.
• Expecting your DSO or university to have the number. It belongs entirely to the employer's E-Verify account; your DSO can guide you on the filing process but has no way to access it.

Frequently asked questions

What is my employer's E-Verify number? It is the Company Identification Number DHS assigns to an employer when it enrolls in E-Verify, a federal system that checks work authorization documents like your STEM OPT EAD. USCIS asks for this number on the STEM OPT extension request because your employer must already be enrolled before you can file. It is separate from your SEVIS school code, your employer's EIN, and any DUNS or UEI number.

Where can I find my employer's E-Verify Company ID Number? There is no public database that lists Company ID numbers, so you cannot look yours up online. Ask whoever manages I-9 compliance or visa sponsorship at your company, usually HR, payroll, or an in-house immigration coordinator, since the number lives in the company's E-Verify Memorandum of Understanding and account profile. If your company outsources E-Verify to a designated agent, ask for the Client Company ID Number instead.

What if my employer uses an E-Verify agent instead of enrolling directly? Some employers, especially smaller ones or those using a PEO or staffing firm, let a third-party E-Verify employer agent run their cases instead of enrolling directly. In that setup you still need a number specific to your actual employer, called the Client Company ID Number, not the agent's own Company ID. Ask HR to confirm which one applies before you enter anything on your filing.

Do I need an E-Verify number for regular OPT or only STEM OPT? Only the 24-month STEM OPT extension requires your employer to be enrolled in E-Verify and to supply this number. Standard post-completion OPT, including the initial 12-month period, has no E-Verify enrollment requirement at all.

What happens if my employer cannot give me an E-Verify number? If nobody at the company can produce a number, the most likely explanation is that the company is not actually enrolled in E-Verify yet, which means it cannot sponsor your STEM OPT extension until that changes. Ask your employer to enroll before you rely on their offer for your extension, and loop in your DSO early since your filing window is tied to your current OPT authorization expiring. This is a business decision your employer has to make, so a licensed immigration attorney or your DSO is the right person to help you sequence the filing, not a guess on your end.

Working through STEM OPT paperwork and want a second set of eyes on your job search timeline? F1Jobs can help you think through what comes next.